Miranda Bennett designs minimalist and subsequently versatile pieces colored with plant-based dyes from things like roots, fruits and seeds! 

In her current collection she says she’s used avocado stones and skins (the seeds and skins which she gets at Austin restaurant Kome!) and Mexican Mint Marigold, which is traditionally used as a tea or culinary herb. She says other foods that can be used for dye include turmeric, black beans, cabbage, onion skins, hibiscus!

In addition to Kome, much of her locally sourced food for dye comes from Kindred Fiber Farm in Fredericksburg and Berdoll, a family-owned sawmill in Texas Hill Country. She says the dying, which done at her Austin studio, keeps chemicals out of the waterways, and off our bodies. 

Miranda says she started to play with food for dye as an antidote to fashion fatigue, “After years of working in the industry and feeling like I had lost the plot a bit in keeping up with the breakneck pace and obsolescence of seasonal collections, working in this medium woke my heart and curiosity back up,” she says. “Plant and food waste dyes offer an opportunity to reconnect with the earth and with process, avoid the use of toxic substances, source dyes in an array of meaningful ways, offer compelling, small batch colors unique to our collection, and imbue our garments with greater meaning for the wearer through the countless hours of work poured into each one.” 

All MBS pieces are one-size-fits-all, many coming with a belt so you can tailor it to your shape sans a seamstress, everything is designed, dyed, cut and sewn in Austin and every piece is unique by nature. “I think the biggest lesson in working with natural dyes is to not hold them to the same standards as conventional dyes, but instead, to take them as they are, embracing the spontaneity of the medium,” Miranda says. “I often think of a French teacher I had who once responded with exasperation to a student questioning why a phrase in English did not translate word for word in French and said, ‘French is not a direct translation of English, it is its own language!’ Natural dyes are their own language, and they are not meant to be compared one for one to synthetic substances -- they are alive, and that is at the heart of both their beauty and their benefits.”

You can find her studio at 1211 E 11th St, Ste 101 in Austin or online at shopmirandabennett.com